Day 14 - an unexpected adventure
I am blogging today rather then tomorrow because I am unsure if I will be able to till Saturday. Last night a decision was made to go to the Dominican Republic for 3 nights starting tomorrow morning and my cell plan in Haiti will not work in the DR. We leave tomorrow morning at 8am and drive for 8 1/2 hours on a transit bus. We will be staying there with a friend of pastor Day's. Both Dom and his brother Kerby, 24 years old, are coming with me. We are all three looking forward to going on this trip together and seeing what God reveals to us there. We will be leaving from there at 8am on Saturday and getting back to port-au-prince around dinner time. Not sure what exactly we will be doing or exactly what city we are going to but we will most definitely find out when we get there. With that said, I will recap yesterday and today now.
Day 13: We woke up early to go to pastor Day's church for early morning prayer at 6am. He said this is something his church has done every day except for Sunday's for the past 20 years. It was very encouraging to see and to be apart of. A couple hundred people showed up and they did prayer and worship till 815am. The worship was great and the believers there were there for one purpose and one purpose only, to see gods love manifest in there lives and nation. At times it was a little loud from the pastors praying on the microphone but there was plenty of space to find some quite time with the lord. Before it ended, pastor Day shared for 5 minutes what was laid on his heart by the grace of God for everyone there.
At this time Dom left and went back to his home to get his brother Kerby to be my translator for this week. Dom was unsure if he could be around much because he is working with a friend to get a business running, so that they could have a job. So Kerby and I left with two other pastors for the new church site, which was the same one we fed the children at the first week. We helped them work on the construction of the temporary building for shade and protection from the rain. We had to pick up some lumber and figure out the best way to tie it down on our small truck with some shady rope, God was most definitely with us because I don't know how it happened so well! We arrived and got to work for roughly 4 hours and then we headed back to pastor Day's house. Kerby and I then got ready to hit the street to play some street soccer with our old soccer friends from August. We talked for a while and then played for an hour. After we were finished playing one of the guys was wearing a knee brace and so I asked him what was wrong and if we could pray for his knee. After we prayed another one of the players asked if we could pray for his knee because he had knee pain. So we also prayed for him and we went on our way saying we will play again tomorrow evening with them. I finished the evening with my first water bucket shower and spending time in the word with Kerby.
Day 14:
I continued the midnight prayer with Kirby and we started the morning again with prayer and worship at the church. This time pastor Day had me share a 5 minute message before sending everyone off for the day. What was on my heart was for us to step out today by his word loving those as he loves us and this being our walk as believers because we can put all our trust in him. When we take that step through faith, he is always faithful to be there for us. The comforter is a role for the Holy Spirit and if we never go to the point of discomfort we will never know him as this for us.
After having a spaghetti breakfast and coffee, a first for me, we went to the bus transit to get our tickets. Kirby and I spent the rest of the afternoon sharing stories and reading the bible. In the evening, Kirby, Dom, and myself went to the street to play with our friends yet again. We arrived to the spot for soccer a little early and sat on the bench as we waited. While we sat there, several other people walked up to me, remembering me from when we were all here in August and I was able to get to know them more. Some of them opened up more about their faith and it was surprising to hear so many of them know Jesus is powerful but have not decided to follow him. The common theme was that they had to get some of their issues resolved before and then they would give there lives to him. Kirby and Dom would talk to them and even with a few of them saying that Jesus had come to them in a dream, they still were hesitant in saying yes to his grace and getting baptized. Eventually the guys showed up to play soccer and then we began to play till dark. After we finished playing one of the guys came up to us saying that after we prayed for him yesterday, he has not had anymore pain. This led in conversation to inviting them to doing a bible study next week when they could here more about Gods word, assuring them that the truth will set them free. We said no pressure but it would be a great time to ask questions and hear who Jesus truely is and how he makes all things new. They said they were interested in doing this and either Monday or Tuesday we will plan on having a block Biblestudy with them! We finished up the evening with dinner and listening to some worship music in our room as it has now begun to pour rain.
Some reflection:
I am amazed to see the courage that all my brothers here show in even associating themselves with me. Going back to pastor peirre's story, he was put in jail for 7 days because of cops wanting money from him thinking he was rich since he was with white missionaries; and pastor Day, being kidnapped for 24 hours because a gang seeing he is commonly with white missionaries. I asked Dom if this ever crossed his mind and he said yes it does increase his risk of being kidnapped or interrogated but he said I don't care because it is for Jesus, the countries only hope. Amazing men of God that stand strong in a culture that is constantly attempting to put fear in those who are bringing hope.
Also, a common theme for these men of God has been how fruitful the spiritual warfare and the testing of their faith is for their strength in Christ. They continually say it makes their faith more firm whenever they get a new opportunity to exercise their faith in Christ and see his power in a new or greater way.
The reality of the spiritual realm is constant here and as I was talking with Dom, if you are not in Christ you know immediately because it is like trying to run in sand with a 100 lb backpack. With this experience of truely getting to see what the Christians deal with here, I am feeling what they feel. There are moments through out the day when I am looking forward to being back but I know these thoughts are only coming from my discomfort by my surroundings making an attempt to promote fear. But I know this is just a lie in my head and even though I do look forward to the relationships back at home, our true home is in the presence of God. The light of Christ is very obvious here when one walks according to the spirit. In the midst of all the caos and curuption I am seeing some of the greatest love being shown to me and others by believers here. By gods grace, I am instantly family with many of them because of our greatest focus, to make Christ known, being identified by the way we ought to love one another as Christ accomplished, what we could not, for us and now by his sprit he works in us making all things new.
Day 13: We woke up early to go to pastor Day's church for early morning prayer at 6am. He said this is something his church has done every day except for Sunday's for the past 20 years. It was very encouraging to see and to be apart of. A couple hundred people showed up and they did prayer and worship till 815am. The worship was great and the believers there were there for one purpose and one purpose only, to see gods love manifest in there lives and nation. At times it was a little loud from the pastors praying on the microphone but there was plenty of space to find some quite time with the lord. Before it ended, pastor Day shared for 5 minutes what was laid on his heart by the grace of God for everyone there.
At this time Dom left and went back to his home to get his brother Kerby to be my translator for this week. Dom was unsure if he could be around much because he is working with a friend to get a business running, so that they could have a job. So Kerby and I left with two other pastors for the new church site, which was the same one we fed the children at the first week. We helped them work on the construction of the temporary building for shade and protection from the rain. We had to pick up some lumber and figure out the best way to tie it down on our small truck with some shady rope, God was most definitely with us because I don't know how it happened so well! We arrived and got to work for roughly 4 hours and then we headed back to pastor Day's house. Kerby and I then got ready to hit the street to play some street soccer with our old soccer friends from August. We talked for a while and then played for an hour. After we were finished playing one of the guys was wearing a knee brace and so I asked him what was wrong and if we could pray for his knee. After we prayed another one of the players asked if we could pray for his knee because he had knee pain. So we also prayed for him and we went on our way saying we will play again tomorrow evening with them. I finished the evening with my first water bucket shower and spending time in the word with Kerby.
Day 14:
I continued the midnight prayer with Kirby and we started the morning again with prayer and worship at the church. This time pastor Day had me share a 5 minute message before sending everyone off for the day. What was on my heart was for us to step out today by his word loving those as he loves us and this being our walk as believers because we can put all our trust in him. When we take that step through faith, he is always faithful to be there for us. The comforter is a role for the Holy Spirit and if we never go to the point of discomfort we will never know him as this for us.
After having a spaghetti breakfast and coffee, a first for me, we went to the bus transit to get our tickets. Kirby and I spent the rest of the afternoon sharing stories and reading the bible. In the evening, Kirby, Dom, and myself went to the street to play with our friends yet again. We arrived to the spot for soccer a little early and sat on the bench as we waited. While we sat there, several other people walked up to me, remembering me from when we were all here in August and I was able to get to know them more. Some of them opened up more about their faith and it was surprising to hear so many of them know Jesus is powerful but have not decided to follow him. The common theme was that they had to get some of their issues resolved before and then they would give there lives to him. Kirby and Dom would talk to them and even with a few of them saying that Jesus had come to them in a dream, they still were hesitant in saying yes to his grace and getting baptized. Eventually the guys showed up to play soccer and then we began to play till dark. After we finished playing one of the guys came up to us saying that after we prayed for him yesterday, he has not had anymore pain. This led in conversation to inviting them to doing a bible study next week when they could here more about Gods word, assuring them that the truth will set them free. We said no pressure but it would be a great time to ask questions and hear who Jesus truely is and how he makes all things new. They said they were interested in doing this and either Monday or Tuesday we will plan on having a block Biblestudy with them! We finished up the evening with dinner and listening to some worship music in our room as it has now begun to pour rain.
Some reflection:
I am amazed to see the courage that all my brothers here show in even associating themselves with me. Going back to pastor peirre's story, he was put in jail for 7 days because of cops wanting money from him thinking he was rich since he was with white missionaries; and pastor Day, being kidnapped for 24 hours because a gang seeing he is commonly with white missionaries. I asked Dom if this ever crossed his mind and he said yes it does increase his risk of being kidnapped or interrogated but he said I don't care because it is for Jesus, the countries only hope. Amazing men of God that stand strong in a culture that is constantly attempting to put fear in those who are bringing hope.
Also, a common theme for these men of God has been how fruitful the spiritual warfare and the testing of their faith is for their strength in Christ. They continually say it makes their faith more firm whenever they get a new opportunity to exercise their faith in Christ and see his power in a new or greater way.
The reality of the spiritual realm is constant here and as I was talking with Dom, if you are not in Christ you know immediately because it is like trying to run in sand with a 100 lb backpack. With this experience of truely getting to see what the Christians deal with here, I am feeling what they feel. There are moments through out the day when I am looking forward to being back but I know these thoughts are only coming from my discomfort by my surroundings making an attempt to promote fear. But I know this is just a lie in my head and even though I do look forward to the relationships back at home, our true home is in the presence of God. The light of Christ is very obvious here when one walks according to the spirit. In the midst of all the caos and curuption I am seeing some of the greatest love being shown to me and others by believers here. By gods grace, I am instantly family with many of them because of our greatest focus, to make Christ known, being identified by the way we ought to love one another as Christ accomplished, what we could not, for us and now by his sprit he works in us making all things new.
I am glad you are sharing your experiences and photos in the blog. It helps me focus on prayers for you and the people you are interacting with each day.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are sharing your experiences and photos in the blog. It helps me focus on prayers for you and the people you are interacting with each day.
ReplyDelete